Phorusrhacos
''Phorusrhacos ''is a genus of flightless, predatory bird which lived in the Miocene epoch in South America. It was the eighth animal rescued for the park. It was arguably the easiest animal that Nigel caught. Facts Phorusrhacos was a huge, lightly-built bird with a fearsome beak. A recent discovery of a close relative in North America suggests that they also had claws on their wings, which is unusual, although it is not clear how these would have been used. Among the bones found in the stratum of the Santa Cruz Formation (now considered as mainly of mid-Miocene date) was the piece of a mandible which Florentino Ameghino (1887) at first described as that of an edentate mammal. In 1891, it was recognized to be a bird. Remains are known from several localities in the Santa Cruz Province, of Argentina. Phorusrhacos stood around 2.5 meters (8.2) feet tall and weighed approximately 130 kilograms (280 lbs). In Prehistoric Park )]] Saving the Sabretooth When Nigel Marven traveled back one million years ago he encountered a male ''Phorusrhacos scavenging a Toxodon carcass. As it began pulling meat from the carcass a male''Smilodon]'' chased him away and began scavenging the carcass itself. Nigel then came up with a plan and quietly took part of the meat the bird dropped, tied it to his jeep and goaded the terror bird into following. Once it began chasing the meat Nigel lured it through the time portal and into a holding pen, where it stayed until Bob Arthur had set up its enclosure. ''Supercroc After some time the ''Phorusrhacos had got into the habit of having dust baths, some of these were done near the fence and would create a hole under it. One time it got out when Bob was cleaning the Elasmotherium enclousure, forcing Bob to call some staff to lure the bird back with some meat tied to a jeep. )]]Later a panicking titanosaur broke through the ''Phorusrhachos' enclosure, allowing it to escape. Eventually the Phorurhacos and the other escaped animals were captured and taken back to their enclosures, allowing Bob to create a deeper foundation around the terror bird's exhibit so it couldn't escape. Trivia *''Phorurhacos'' went extinct in the Miocene. Thus was extinct by the time the episode was set. **The species seen in the series is most likely Phorusrhachos longissimus since it lived in the same place as the one in the show. **The drawing that Nigel showed is identified as Titanis, but somehow the Phorusrhacos took over the role instead. * Phorusrhacos is shown to be easily fended off by the Smilodon. In reality, such a large terror bird like this one could fight or even kill the Smilodon. Gallery *See also: Images of Phorusrhacos )]] ''''References External links *Phorusrhacos on Wikipedia Category:Creatures Category:Pliocene Animals Category:Pleistocene Animals Category:Prehistoric Animals Category:Creatures in the Park Category:Birds Category:Apex predator Category:Animals Category:Articles to be cleaned Category:Creatures in Saving the Sabretooth Category:Creatures in Supercroc Category:Carnivores Category:Prehistoric Park Animals Category:Terror Birds Category:Miocene Animals Category:Theropods Category:Dinosaurs Category:Ice Age animals Category:Archosaurs Category:Vertebrates Category:Unidentified Creatures